Here’s a great example of how a news article we might read in the morning at TLC Middle School can be used as a springboard to learn in a truly multi-disciplinary way.

Let’s look at this recent NPR feature about grapes, which caught my attention both with the picture and the clever headline:

At TLC Middle School, here’s how we might discuss this article.

First, we would all read the NPR article (go ahead and read it — it’s not long).

The article describes how one part of plants work:

Plants have two types of pipes in their stems: the xylem and the phloem. The xylem pumps water to the leaves from the roots, while the phloem sends food from the leaves back down to the roots.

After we read that, I’m pretty sure we could find an image of xylem and phloem from an online biology text…  Yep —…